


Sober Thoughts

by Mintyxxchuu



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - College/University, Attempt at Humor, Choi Soobin Is Bad At Feelings, Choi Yeonjun is misunderstood, Cliche, Comedy, Declarations Of Love, Drinking to Cope, Excessive Drinking, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Homophobia, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Love/Hate, M/M, Making Out, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Misunderstandings, Pain, Psychological Trauma, References to Depression, Self-Acceptance, Self-Indulgent, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Strangers to Friends, Unrequited Crush, Whipped Choi Soobin, age appropriate, complicated Taegyu, cursing, hopefully
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:34:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23313208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mintyxxchuu/pseuds/Mintyxxchuu
Summary: “let me be your love coach,” Yeonjun says. Soobin stares at him, blinking owlishly as he tries to process what the older is saying.“my what?,” Soobin blurts.Yeonjun levels him another unimpressed gaze. “let me spell it for you, dumbass—l.. o..v…e..c..o…a…c…h,” he says slowly. Soobin almost slaps the teasing smirk off the guy’s face.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Soobin's first hearbreak leads him to the infamous underground club where he encounters Choi Yeonjun. with a deal sealed between them, Soobin tries to beat the odds to seduce his first love and get himself the happy ending he desires with Yeonjun's help.but of course, fate didn't work that way.
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu/Choi Soobin, Choi Beomgyu/Kang Taehyun, Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun
Comments: 26
Kudos: 134





	1. date disaster and sealed deal [EDITED]

**Author's Note:**

> “red eyes, slouching shoulders… date gone wrong?,” the older asks and Soobin stares at him in surprise.
> 
> “are you a psychology student or something?,” Soobin blurts. Yeonjun snorts.
> 
> “no, business,” he answers as he chugs down his vodka. Business? Soobin furrows his eyebrows in confusion. He did not expect the Choi Yeonjun to be a business student.
> 
> \----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> {chapter 1 EDITED, please reread }

**The** bookstore sat between a bakery and a jewellery store, which is probably why it had attracted Choi Soobin in the first place. Books and bread, his two favourite things in the world. The walk from his apartment complex isn’t burdening too, which is another bonus for a booklover like him.

The towering trees along the road are shedding their leaves, raining Earth with colours of red, brown and orange. The weather is a bit cold, considering that it is autumn. When the breeze hits Soobin, he immediately pulls coat tighter against his body as he silently curses himself for not wearing a more appropriate clothes, stuck in a long coat over a grey sweater and skinny jeans with a pair of dirty sneakers.

Soobin spots the bookstore, standing out with the red bricked walls and effortlessly aesthetic vibe before he sees the wooden entrance door. Next to it, there is a wide display window lined with pots of flowers Soobin vaguey recognized as carnations. The inside perfectly captures the look of a book heaven, with the cursive writing of the bookstore’s name on the wooden board board hanging above the door and display window.

** JUNG BOOKSTORE **

With a relieved sigh, he pushes the door open, ringing the bell above the door. Soobin takes a deep breath, looking around the bookstore as a warm feeling washes over him. The interior walls are all bricks, like the outside and lined with shells that held little knick knacks. The room is spacious, could possibly fit 50 people at the same time, and the rows of book shelves are arranged almost like a typical library. He glances briefly at the clock hanging on the wall, which reads _four fifteen pm._ He walks pass the shelves, heading for the stairs in the back which leads to the second floor where he can work on his assignments peacefully. In the corner, a couple of bean bags are prepared for customers and he isn’t surprised to see one was occupied by the freshman he sees around campus, not a face that is meant to blend in with the crowd. The freshman’s face can only be described as beautifully foreign with a Korean eccentric to it. His eyes are not really dark brown, has a tinge of light brown in them, paired with a sharp nose and a pair of thin lips. He’s decked in a bright yellow hoodie, really hard to miss from afar and his surrounding is covered by papers and a laptop on his lap.

The freshman looks up from his laptop to shoot Soobin an awkward smile which the older returned with a tiny wave.

“I see you’re back again,” Soobin whips his head towards the counter in the other corner where an old lady sits. Her face is reaped with age, evident from her ashen grey hair but she has a warm smile on her lips, eyes crinkling into crescents as she looks at Soobin from head to toe, frowning slightly at the backpack hanging off his shoulders. “you look nice, do you have a date tonight?,” she asks, genuinely interested.

Soobin blushes as he scratches the back of his neck. “I do actually, a blind date set up by my friends,” he says. Grandma Jung gives him a look, borderline stern as she crossed her arms in disapproval.

“but you’re here instead?,” she says, a scolding tone in her voice. Soobin shrugs sheepishly, shifting on his feet nervously as he endures her upcoming interrogation.

“killing time, Granny. I hope you don’t mind,” he says, sounding a bit shy. Grandma Jung clicks her tongue and shakes her head with a defeated sigh, knowing well that kicking Soobin out would only end up in a disaster.

“what time is your date?,” she asks. Soobin hesitates, scratching his hair lightly to recall the promised time.

“7 pm,” he says. Grandma Jung nods slowly, a pondering look on her face.

“alright, just don’t lose track of time or I have to send Kai up to retrieve you so I can whoop your ass for forgetting,” She says sternly. Soobin wants to question who she meant until he hears the little noise of complain coming from the freshman in the corner. Soobin spares him a glance and catches the freshman’s face scrunching in disapproval.

Well, at least he has a name for the freshman now.

“I won’t! I have some assignments to catch up but thank you Granny. See you in a bit,” he says charmingly before he steps away from the counter and heads for the stairs, which he knows will lead him to a more private space for him to do his work in peace. Granny waves him off, but a knowing look lingers on her face.

Of course, Soobin won’t forget about his date.

* * *

The second floor is mainly reserved for trustworthy regular customers. The space is divided into two by a curtain, with the one near the wide windows serving as a spot for the customers to do their work and the other side as Granny’s personal space. There’s a room and a kitchen in the back, but those are restricted areas.

When Soobin is greeted with the outside view from the windows, he sighs in relief and immediately goes over to the set of sofas and tables in the customers area. No one is there, but again, Soobin never really sees anyone except himself up here and he goes to the book store almost every week.

He sits down and pulls out his laptop, ready to tackle his assignments with a heavy heart. Being in his final year of psychology, it is truly exhausting and he just can’t wait for it to be over with. While his laptop loads, he looks out with a lingering thought on his blind date.

Will he be as funny as Hyunjin says? Charming? Empathic? Soobin trusts Hyunjin to some extend, but would he trust him to meddle with his love life? It’s not like he had a choice at all, because Hyunjin does not take a no for an answer.

But then again, Soobin is too cowardly to take control of his life; to go with the flow, that is a concept Soobin cannot grasp.

When the laptop lets out a beep, Soobin breaks away from his thoughts and forces himself to focus on his work.

_Right, goals first. Day dreaming second._

* * *

"hey,"

An unfamiliar voice breaks his concentration and he looks up from his laptop. The same freshman is standing next to him, face clearly annoyed as he taps on his foot.

“what time is it?,” Soobin asks, vaguely recalling Granny’s words about sending Kai up if he forgets—holy shit, _the fucking date!_ Soobin panics as he hastily closes his laptop and throws all of his stuff messily into the bag. Kai just watches as Soobin stresses himself.

He stands up, clumsily trying to wear his bag until Kai takes it out of his grasp. Soobin gawks at him. Kai raises an eyebrow at him. “take it back when you’re done with your date. You better run, you’re already 5 minutes late,”

Soobin scowls, but moves past Kai and eagerly runs down the stairs. Granny stands at the counter, face unamused.

“I told you--,”

“Sorry Granny!,”

And Soobin is out of the store.

* * *

Soobin is late.

He’s running past the shops, trying to get to the place he’s supposed to meet with his blind date. He checks his watch and curses when he realises that he is almost 30 minutes late. Distracted, he did not notice a person in his way and— **CRASH!** They both tumble onto the ground.

“What the fuck!,” the other person curses and Soobin quickly stands up, bowing profusely as he apologises. Soobin vaguely sees leather jacket and a mop of blue hair.

“I’m really sorry!,” he shouts and runs off, leaving the stranger alone.

Sooobin didn’t stop running until he sees the little diner in the corner and a boy standing in front of it. He’s sure that the boy is his blind date, seeing as he is wearing a Balenciaga jacket like he had mentioned through text. He’s only a few steps away before he realises exactly _who_ his date is. Soobin halts and falters, processing in his mind. He registers the mop of blonde hair first, then to the familiar handsome features on his face. Soobin recognizes the beautiful pair of eyes, the sharp nose and the pair of thick lips. Of course, he would. His date is wearing a white sweater under the Balenciaga jacker and a pair of jeans with brown converse. Fuck, effortlessly beautiful. As always.

_Fucking Hyunjin did not mention CHOI BEOMGYU???_ His mind screeches as he drowns in panic. His date—Beomgyu—turns around and spots him. his frown immediately shifts to a relieved smile, which aches Soobin’s nervous heart. Suddenly, Soobin feels out of place. Feels as if he could never compete with Beomgyu’s charm. Feels.. _opposite._

“when Hyunjin hyung said that my date is tall, I didn’t know he meant _tall_ tall,” Beomgyu jokes as he approaches Soobin who stands frozen. His smile falters when Soobin didn’t react. “Um—are you okay?,” he asks in concern, a frown on his lips.

“I’m fine!,” Soobin squeaks embarrassingly. He’s definitely _not_ fine. Choi Beomgyu is his crush, the one guy Soobin fantasies to marry and be with forever. Not 10 minutes into their date and Soobin has already embarrassed himself.

God, he’s going to murder Hyunjin for this.

“okay then, I’m Choi Beomgyu,” Beomgyu says with a friendly smile as he reaches out his hand. Soobin lets out an embarrassing squeak before he takes the other’s hand and shake it. _God, his skin is soft—now Soobin, shut up._

“Choi Soobin,” he says shyly. Beomgyu pulls away and Soobin is slightly disappointed by the loss of warmth. Beomgyu nods towards the diner.

“let’s make the most out of our date,” he says cheerfully. Soobin nods eagerly and coughs to cover up his embarrassment. Beomgyu shoots him a look that Soobin can only described as _lightly disturbed—_ which only cause another wave of shame and embarrassment wash over him.

“it’s going to be a good one,” he replies, almost timidly.

* * *

The date was a disaster.

Half an hour in, Soobin accidentally spilled milkshake all over himself. When Beomgyu tried to help him, he had accidentally elbowed his nose and the boy had a nosebleed. Because of the ruckus, they were kicked out of the diner and they were left hungry and in pain—on Beomgyu’s part.

Soobin’s too mortified to even remember what has happened. They are both walking down the streets towards Beomgyu’s apartment complex. The younger has a bunch of tissues up his nose.

“I am incredibly sorry,” Soobin says, sounding slightly tearful. Beomgyu waves him off as they walk.

“it’s really fine, Soobin hyung. No need to feel guilty about it,” Beomgyu says with a smile, which would’ve been blinding if it wasn’t for the tissue stuffed up his nose. Soobin bites his lower lip.

“i—I can take you out another day?,” He asks, sounding hopeful. Beomgyu suddenly looks guilty and Soobin could feel the dread pooling in his stomach.

“you seem like an interesting guy, hyung but I feel like we should just stay as friends,” he says apologetically and Soobin swallows the heartbreak with a teary smile. He ignores the concern on Beomgyu’s face as they stop in front of the boy’s building.

“of course, Beomgyu. Friends,” he says with hesitance.

* * *

The truth is, Choi Soobin has no experience in love at all. Love, as in romantic love.

He was never the type to fall in love or have a crush. Growing up, he always prioritise goals instead of dreams. He works hard to achieve what he wants for his future that he ignored the longing to be a normal functioning human being. That was, until he saw Choi Beomgyu for the first time and fuck, he was the first love that knocked Soobin off his feet.

Soobin does not know how to function in front of his crush, eventhough they do share classes sometimes. If Beomgyu goes towards his direction, he takes a detour and goes the opposite way. If Beomgyu even so much look in his direction, he ducks his head and pretend to be busy just so he didn’t attract Beomgyu’s attention.

Really, he’s embarrassed himself in front of Beomgyu enough.

Now that he had blew the chance of being Beomgyu’s love interest—Great, now he sounds like the pathetic pining main lead in romance novels that he secretly loves to read, he felt lost.

Maybe he is destined to live out the rest of his life alone.

Soobin lets out a loud groan as he walks back to his apartment complex. He passes the bookstore, suddenly reminded that he had ditched his school work there when he realised he was late for his date. Soobin sighs as he halts and enters the closing store.

“Sorry, we’re closing—oh hey,” Soobin blinks in confusion when he sees the freshman behind the counter.

“Where’s Granny?,” he blurts as the freshman—Kai—shrugs and hands him his bag from behind the counter.

“Granny always leaves the store closing to me,” Kai says, noting Soobin’s slouched shoulders and slightly red eyes. “I get that the date didn’t end well for you?,” he asks nonchalantly.

“how did you--,”

“you’re not the only one taking the psychology course, you know?,” Kai cuts him off rudely. Soobin lets out an offended noise and deflates.

“yeah, it didn’t--,” he pauses. “You work here?,” Soobin asks. Kai gives him an unimpressed look.

“for someone who tops the senior batch, you’re pretty dumb,” He says. Soobin scowls. Kai ignores the protest from Soobin. “Granny is my grandmother,” He says and Soobin gawks.

“you guys don’t look the same?,” he blurts. This dude looks more foreign than Korean. Kai shoots him an offended glare.

“now, that’s just racist,” He snaps. Soobin winces.

“right—sorry, seriously. Today is just not a good day for me,” Soobin says weakly. Kai’s glare softens as he smiles softly.

“you must like the person a lot,” Kai says. Soobin nods. Kai has a contemplative look on his face before he leaves the counter and grabs his coat. “leave your stuff here—I’m taking you somewhere,” he says. Soobin looks at him in confusion.

“where to?,” he asks as he follows Kai out hastily. Kai locks the door and shoots him a mysterious smile.

“some place to forget your sorrow--,” he pauses. “the name’s Huening Kai Kamal, or Jung Kai—I don’t really care,” he says. Soobin notes, saving the name in his memory.

“I’m Choi Soobin,” he says. Kai chuckles and shrugs.

“interesting guy,” Kai says instead and they walk off into the night

* * *

An underground club.

That’s where Soobin finds himself. There is no one in front of the restaurant that holds the basement for the most probably illegal club. Instead of going through the front door, Kai leads him through the alley and to the back door. He notices the discomfort in Soobin’s face.

“relax, this club is only accessible to a few kids. My older cousin owns it,” Kai says. “you need connection to go in,” he adds like an afterthought. Soobin nods, despite the discomfort pooling in his stomach. He chooses to trust the younger, since his anxiety has not fully flare up.

Kai smiles when he sees that Soobin has not bolted away and retrieves a card from his coat pocket. Soobin catches a glimpse of a black butterfly on it before Kai steps down the stairs to the door and knocks. Soobin shifts on his feet as he sees the door open slightly and a head pops out. Soobin could hear music coming from the gap. Kai lifts the card up to the guy’s face and he breaks into a smile.

“Ning! You finally came,” The guy—owner—says as he opens the door and ushers them both in. He did shoots Soobin a suspicious glare which cause Soobin to gulp and avert his gaze nervously. Kai notices this and chuckles.

“Hi, Hoseok hyung. This is my friend, Soobin hyung--I hope you don’t mind,” Kai says as he gives the owner a hug. Hoseok shrugs, eyeing Soobin up and down.

“the more the merrier—welcome to Bangtan club, Soobin. Remember, the club does not exist,” Hoseok shoots him a conspiracy wink as he slips a card into Soobin’s hand before leaving them both. Soobin looks down and realises that he now has a similar card with Kai.

“friend?,” Soobin asks, turning to Kai. His eyes does wander to the club though. The basement is really spacious, probably could fit 100 people. The walls must be sound proof if there is no music escaping to the streets, as the music is loud enough to wake a whole neighbourhood. He notes the fancy lights hanging from the ceiling and the bar in the corner. A dance floor sits in the middle with a DJ stand nearby. There are probably 30-40 people right now.

“yeah—what do _you_ call an individual you’re bonding with?,” Kai gives him a strange look. He almost walks away until Soobin grasps his sleeve in panic.

“where are you going?,” Soobin asks. Kai tilts his head in confusion.

“I’m going to socialise—duh, you go and get drinks or something. Drink away your sorrow. My treat,” Kai says and shoos Soobin before he leaves the boy alone. Soobin curses Kai softly as he heads up to the bar. The bar only has a couple of people—a girl and a boy--there, which relaxes Soobin slightly. The girl is passed out on the counter and the boy is nurturing a bottle of vodka but he couldn’t see his face because his back is turned against Soobin. Soobin did take note of the leather jacket and mop of blue hair—which reminds Soobin of something or _someone_..

“um—one bottle of soju please,” He says to the bartender as he sits a couple of chairs away from the boy. The bartender gives him a brief nod, taking a bottle from the fridge and sliding it over to Soobin who catches it barely before it falls onto the floor.

“Soju? Weak,” Soobin whips his head towards the boy, eyes widened in surprise. His heart drops when he realises that the boy is none other than _Choi Yeonjun._

Now, Soobin might not know about the gossips around campus but he would be living under a rock if he does not know the older boy. Yeonjun is the name that never leaves people’s lips. He’s got a reputation, known for being drunk on campus and always the centre of attention. If Beomgyu is known for his loud and charming nature, Yeonjun is known for being mysterious and just _there._ Nobody really knows him, even the girls he had dated.

Soobin never encounters Yeonjun, never saw him upclose until right now. He can actually see why girls— _and boys_ —would go crazy over him. Soobin is not bad looking, but Yeonjun is just on another level of beauty, almost the same level as Beomgyu. He has this intimidating mysterious aura that lures people in, with his vixen-like eyes and plump lips. Just absolutely ethereal.

“um--,” he stammers, unsure how to reply. Yeonjun is clearly drunk, with his eyes hazy and Soobin might as well note that he’s high as fuck from the smell of weed coming from the older—now that Soobin notice, isn’t weed technically illegal in Korea?--but as drunk as Yeonjun is, his gaze is still intimidating as he drags his eyes all over Soobin, making him feel naked under his gaze.

“red eyes, slouching shoulders… date gone wrong?,” the older asks and Soobin stares at him in surprise. _awfully perspective for a drunkard.._

“are you a psychology student or something?,” Soobin blurts, unable to hide his surprise but if he is, shouldn’t Soobin at least seen him around the science department? Yeonjun snorts, rolling his eyes.

“no. business,” he answers as he chugs down his vodka. _Business?_ Soobin furrows his eyebrows in confusion. He did not expect _the_ Choi Yeonjun to be a business student but to be fair, Soobin didn’t even expect him to be in university at all. Yeonjun is just the type of kids who lives the party life.

“now, now—don’t give me that look. I know, _THE_ Choi Yeonjun is taking business?,” Yeonjun says as he waves his bottle around, narrowly missing Soobin’s face. “but this isn’t about me,” he snorts as he levels a look at Soobin.

“you must be wondering how I knew about your disaster of a date. Well—first of, you came with Kai and everyone knows that kid’s a softie so he brings his sad pathetic companions here. Second, I can clearly see heartbreak all over your face, you’re an open book. Besides, you’d be the surprised on how many heartbroken people come here,” Yeonjun rants, surprising Soobin even more. _A drunk who remembers? Possibly. Is he even truly wasted or just tipsy?_

For a drunk guy, Soobin admits that Yeonjun is awfully observant. Though, his mind lingers on Yeonjun’s words more than the fact the older is too smart for his own good. He ignores the sting of being called pathetic and sad from the older boy and asks snidely, “and how many heartbroken people have you taken advantage of?,”

Yeonjun gives him an unimpressed look. “you have a sassy mouth for someone that screams a nerd,” he says, offending Soobin once again. “and no, I don’t even approach heartbroken people, much less take advantage of them,” he says, smirking.

  
“then why did you approach me?,” Soobin asks. Yeonjun shrugs, leaning back slightly.

“I don’t know. You just look _too_ pathetic—and you ordered the weakest alcohol here,” he snorts. Soobin scowls as he takes the bottle of soju the bartender gave him and chugs sloppily. Yeonjun watches him and snorts again.

“I don’t think you even know how to drink,” he insults. Soobin slams the bottle down and glares at Yeonjun.

“can you like fucking shut up and go back to wallowing?,” Soobin snaps. Normally he would cower at the thought of even talking back to someone, much less to Choi Yeonjun but the older is clearly getting on his nerves _and_ he’s not drunk enough for this.

“oooh, scary,” Yeonjun laughs. Soobin is _this_ closed to punch the guy’s handsome face. _Wait—handsome?_ He thinks in mortification. Yeonjun calms down and stares at Soobin. Again, he feels naked under the guy’s gaze.

“I have a proposal for you,” Yeonjun says suddenly. Soobin opens his mouth to decline but Yeonjun’s gaze stops him. the older looks too determined for a drunk dude so Soobin follows his guts and waits.

“let me be your love coach,” Yeonjun says. Soobin stares at him, blinking owlishly as he tries to process what the older is saying.

“my what?,” Soobin blurts.

Yeonjun levels him another unimpressed gaze. “let me spell it for you, dumbass—l.. o..v…e..c..o…a…c…h,” he says slowly. Soobin almost slaps the teasing smirk off the guy’s face.

“what makes you think I need a love coach?,” Soobin asks. He knows at this point that he is entertaining the drunk senior just to distract himself from the heartbreak he’s feeling.

“well, I can clearly tell that you have no experience in this shit at all. If you wanna woo the love of your life, you need someone who is as experienced as me,” Yeonjun says. Soobin looks at him with an eyebrow raised, clearly unimpressed but his facial expression didn’t deter Yeonjun at all.

“let me rephrase that—what makes you think I need _you_ as my love coach?,” Soobin asks. Yeonjun lets out a disappointed groan as he rolls his eyes. He looks at Soobin with a comical face that it almost makes Soobin burst out laughing.

“well, it’s not everyday _the_ choi yeonjun is offering someone help,” He says. Soobin raises an eyebrow, still unimpressed.

“what are you? Jesus?,” Soobin deadpans. Yeonjun cracks, laughing.

“wow, don’t tell me you’re into that shit, dude--,” Soobin reaches over and shoves him lightly as his face flushes red. He knows that the guy is probably too drunk to even remember this tomorrow but since he is already entertaining Yeonjun, might as well go all the way. _The_ Choi Yeonjun as his love coach? Soobin wants to humour the guy.

“what’s the catch?,” Soobin asks, smirking lightly. Yeonjun shrugs with a thoughtful look on his face.

“maybe a favour in the future,” He says. Soobin frowns, suddenly unsure. Yeonjun snorts at his face.

“I’m not going to make you murder someone,dude,” he says. Soobin shrugs. _What am I going to lose?_ He thinks carelessly.

“Fair enough--,” Soobin reaches out a hand, and Yeonjun raises his eyebrow in surprise. “sure, be my love coach,” he says, not hiding the amusement in his voice. _If you can remember this._ He adds slyly in his head.

This is absolutely entertaining. If he tells Hyunjin this, what would his friend’s reaction be?

Yeonjun smiles and takes his hand, shaking it firmly. “We’ll start tomorrow--,” he pauses and stands, holding his abandoned bottle of vodka as he stumbles lightly. Soobin almost reaches out to catch Yeonjun in case he falls.

Yeonjun waves him off as he tilts his bottle towards Soobin. “this is for you, trying to win the love of your life,” He says then pauses, tilting his head in a contemplative way. “what’s your name again?,” he asks.

Soobin snorts. “I never gave you my name,” he says. Yeonjun rolls his eyes.

“okay _smartass_ ,” he deadpans. Then, he stares at Soobin with an expectant look. He stares back in confusion. Yeonjun gives him another unimpressed look. “you better give me your name before I actually call you dumbass for the rest of your life,”

Soobin scowls. “Choi Soobin,” he concedes. Yeonjun smiles, almost wickedly and his eyes glint with something Soobin cannot understand.

 _Deceive? Curiosity?_ –-an absolute slytherin, this one.

“I guess the Chois really are cursed,” he says with a smirk and walks away, leaving Soobin confused as he tries to understand what Yeonjun had meant.

Soobin felt as if he had just made a deal with the devil.


	2. leather jacket and dirty jokes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Oh my God, Choi Yeonjun. You are insufferable,”   
> Yeonjun smirks, leaning closer until they are a breath away. Soobin squawks and steps back, hitting the poll. “I’m irresistible,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy April's fools day!  
> as promised, an updates as soon as i got online~
> 
> thank you for reading!

_“..leave a message after the beep,”_

With a heavy sigh, he drops the phone over the couch and the device falls against the white carpet with a soft thud. His eyes wonder around his pent house, lazily and randomly noticing all of his furniture. A HD screen TV against the pristine black walls, plain from any photographs or little knick knacks that would make the place a home, but it isn’t home for him.

He lazily looks up to the high ceiling, staring at the chandelier hanging from it, then to the railings of the open second floor where his room and a couple of rooms are. Slowly, he drags his eyes along the metal polls to his stairs which leads down to where he is; the dark living room that doesn’t seem like the living room at all. He carelessly counts off the list of things on the first floor.

_More empty rooms? Check._

_Kitchen with the best brands of equipments? Check._

_A pool out in the deck? Check._

The luxury life, absolutely lucky of him. Spacious space, but just pathetically lonely.

_He_ is lonely.

His newly sobered mind lingers on the boy he had met at Hope On the Streets, the underground club he frequents to. What was his name again?—oh, who is he kidding? Yeonjun is not the type to forget, no matter how drunken his mind is. The boy is most probably one of the most handsome guys he’s ever encountered, in a lowkey way. All sad, pathetic, heart broken.. an open book.

Kinda remind him of someone he hates so much— _himself._

The whole situation is amusing to Yeonjun, _really_. Unfortunately, the dumbass is not _worth_ enough for Yeonjun to seduce him himself.

 _Choi Soobin._ His mind whispers, and he chuckles. _Love coach? Sounds fun—more thrilling than the person he’s been trying to reach out to._ Yeonjun looks up the ceiling again, eyeing the chandelier and wishes that he can get up to get some more alcohol off his racks but he didn’t—he’s not sure why. His eyes flicker to the clock on the wall glaring back at him with three digits, mocking him.. _insulting_ him..

**3:40 am.**

Is that why the person is not picking up?—maybe.Yeonjun did call her _too_ early for a functioning human that should be sleeping at this hour but Yeonjun only calls when he’s sober. _She_ knows this, and Yeonjun is _rarely_ sober.

A pair of red teary eyes again greets his mind and he’s forced to recall about the same boy he’s helping to woo his love. Yeonjun smirks, suddenly very much amused.

“The Chois really are cursed,” he says, knowing full well that the idea of _him_ coaching another guy to get love is just redundant and _comedic._ Hilarious really, and he has not caught on the actual reason he had offered to help the pathetic heartbroken boy.

Was it _pity_? Was it truly for his own _entertainment_?

Soobin’s heartbroken face appears inside his mind, sad and pathetic and miserable and just utterly _lonely_ and—maybe, _maybe_ , Choi Yeonjun is starting to see why.

* * *

Choi Soobin absolutely could not believe what he gotten himself into, as he stares at Hyunjin with a gapping mouth.

When he had come to Hyunjin’s workplace, which is the infamous café that is just a block away from university considering that he has an early morning class and needs caffeine to cope with being a dying student, he had been excited to tell his best friend of the weird encounter with the famous Choi Yeonjun. Hilarious, funny, and everything humorous that basically describes the incident all wash away when Hyunjin’s almost bulge out in shock after he had finished recounting it. An uneasy feeling pool in his stomach.

“Soobin, what have you done?,” Hyunjin asks, absolutely mortified and no trace of humour at all. Serious, Hyunjin is _serious_ and he’s _never_ this serious.

“what? Yeonjun was _drunk_? What’s the big deal?,” Soobin asks, laughing nervously to hide his fear. Hyunjin groans and drags his hand over his face, worry lines appearing on his forehead. Soobin gulps.

_What had I gotten myself into that Hyunjin looks like he might pass out?_

“Binnie, Yeonjun is _off limits_. He’s not one to mess with –he’s _not_ a forgetful drunk—he remembers _everything_ he does when he’s drunk. How do _you_ think he’s _still_ in university now?,” Hyunjin says, voice exasperated. “I left for you for _one_ night and you made a deal with the devil, _just_ perfect,” he adds in frustration. Soobin stares at him with wide eyes and his jaw drops at the realisation of what he had done.

“I heard that making a deal with Choi Yeonjun is like selling away your soul--Soobin, you’re _doom_ ,”

“what’s so bad about him anyway? He seems like a perfectly _normal_ human being last night,”

“so _perfectly_ normal to have offered a total stranger to be his love coach? _you_ ’re just dumber for accepting his offer—Choi Yeonjun is bad news. _Bad_ reputation. Nobody actually knows him except that he is _filthy_ rich, which is saying a _lot_ because our whole university is filled with rich kids to the brim. He’s sly. He’s manipulative—a heartbreaker, horrible _horrible_ person. And that favour? Huh! I won’t be surprised if he _orders_ you to _actually_ kill someone,”

Soobin groans and drops his head into his hands. “holy shit—I’m dead. I’m absolutely dead,” Soobin moans. “someone please dig me a grave,” He cries. Hyunjin rolls his eyes and pats him on the back.

“I wish I can help you, buddy but I value my own life so you have to deal with that,” he snickers. Hyunjin suddenly perks up, a pondering look on his face.

“hey—what happened to your date with Beomgyu by the way?,”

Wrong move—Soobin whips his head towards Hyunjin with a murderous glare. Hyunjin gulps, forgetting the very small detail that got Soobin involved with Yeonjun in the first place.

“why the _fuck_ did you you set me up with Choi Beomgyu and did _not_ tell me?,” Soobin snaps, anger evident in his voice. Hyunjin reaches out his hands with a panicked look on his face, trying to placate the other boy.

“Okay—first of all, it’s a _blind_ date and I’m not supposed to tell you who your date is. Besides, if I did tell you, would you show up at all? We all know that you’re a chicken when it comes to Choi Beomgyu—now, don’t give me that look, _you_ know it’s true. Second, you looked so _pitiful_ with your stupid pining—I just pulled a few strings with a couple of friends to make you talk to him—finally,” Hyunjin says, raising his hands up to his face defensively in case Soobin would actually punch him.

Soobin raises his fist, tempted to actually punch the other—until he deflates in defeat, putting down his fist and pulling a pout. “Doesn’t matter—Beomgyu just wanted to stay as friends,” he sighs sadly. Hyunjin peers in between his arms, still in the defensive stance he had taken position of. There is a frown on his lips—then a conflicting look before he carefully lowers his arms.

“maybe you still have a chance? You do have Choi Yeonjun as your _love coach._ if it’s all about the arts of seducing _and_ making someone fall in love with you, he’s the guy who can help—don’t give up now,” Hyunjin says, frowning. Soobin waves it off.

“I don’t think he was being serious about it—besides, I don’t think I could win Beomgyu over even _with_ Yeonjun’s help,” he says, sounding resigned. Hyunjin nods, then he perks up again.

“what are you going to do with Choi Yeonjun then? The deal, I have no doubt that he has not forgotten about it,” Hyunjin asks, genuine concern in his tone. Soobin purses his lips into a thin line and shrugs.

“maybe avoid him at all cost,” He says. Hyunjin gives him an unamused look.

“what are you going to do? Hide behind a _trashcan_? You’re over 6 feet tall, Choi Soobin,” Hyunjin deadpans. Soobin actually hits his arm this time, eliciting a pained groan from the other.

“I’ll think of something!,”

* * *

The _something_ is basically Soobin hiding himself behind anyone and anything if he so much _thinks_ he sees Yeonjun. Mop of blue hair? _Fuck, hide behind the wall._ A glimpse of leather jacket? _The trashcan looks convincing enough._ A voice that strangely sounds like Yeonjun? _Quick! Use the short—probably 4 feet tall—girl as a shield!_ Soobin received a slap for that one—and it _still_ stings.

He knows he’s just being incredibly paranoid. They’re not even in the same department! What are the odds of Yeonjun actually going to the science department all the way from the business department _which_ is like the other end of the _world_ just to find Soobin? He thinks the idea is ridiculous—but it didn’t make him lower his guards down.

 ** _Tap—_** Soobin whirls around when the slightest touch on his shoulder startles him—with his hands clenched and raised in a defensive position. He sees the mop of blonde hair first, before he meets the pair of bewildered eyes on him. Soobin could _feel_ the mortification rushing all over his body.

_Choi Beomgyu._

Soobin squeaks and lowers his hands, feeling the blush creeping up his cheeks. “o—oh, hey, Beomgyu--,” his voice breaks and he could feel the heat radiating off his ears as he clears his throat. “—what are you doing here?,” he squeaks. Then, Soobin accidentally lets out a low groan, really embarrassed by himself.

_God, someone dig me a hole so I can hide there forever!_

Beomgyu takes pity on him, not laughing even though his eyes are shining with mirth. “u—um, just checking up on you. You seemed so down yesterday..,” Beomgyu says. Soobin had to use all his might to shove down the onslaught giddiness that comes with the thought that the younger _cares_ for him.

See? Maybe he _can_ make Beomgyu fall in love with him on his _own_ —and they’ll ride off to the sunset and have their happy ever after. Maybe, get a dog or two—or a hundred? Hm, probably a house on the burbs, away from the city life but not too far away from the hospital because he has to work there. _Oh,_ what if Beomgyu waits up for him everyday so they can sleep in bed together and cuddle—lots and _lots_ of cuddling—Soobin didn’t realised he was staring.

“uh,”

Until, Beomgyu uncomfortably shifts on his feet from the intensity of it, snapping Soobin out of his stupor. The older flinches and blushes.

“sorry—yeah , it’s fine, Beomgyu. I’m sorry about the horrible date last night—,” he pauses, searching Beomgyu’s face and notices how his nose is slight swollen.”um, how’s your nose?,” Soobin asks, cringing internally by how awkward he sounds. Beomgyu laughs softly, shaking his head at probably Soobin’s awkwardness.

“my nose will get better, hyung and I said it was fine. I’m just checking up on you,”

Soobin takes a deep breath. _Might as well do something now that Beomgyu is here, Soobin!_ He thinks as he gulps nervously. Beomgyu seems to notice his internal conflict and tils his head in confusion. _FUCK—STOP BEING ADORABLE!_ Soobin is tempted to scream, words dying on his tongue at the sudden show of _aegyo_ from the love of his life.

“hyung?,”

“u—um I was wondering if you want to--,”

“oh shit. Hyung--,” Beomgyu cuts him off when he catches sight of the time on the clock on the wall. “I’m really sorry but I’m about to be late for class. Catch you later?,” Beomgyu says apologetically and runs off before Soobin can say anything, leaving the taller male very much dejected _and_ rejected.

His disappointment didn’t last long—he catches a glimpse of blue hair and panic immediately replaces everything. He looks around frantically, and jumps behind a poll, hoping he would blend in with the metal. Soobin peers around the poll, and spots that the blue hair belongs to none other than one of his classmates, Park Jimin.

Relief fills up his chest as he sighs—“who are we hiding from?,”

Soobin yelps and whirls around, immediately met with a pair of genuinely curious eyes. He takes in the accurate shade of blue and the iconic leather jacket before he realises that the one standing before him is really none other than—

“c—choi yeonjun.. Choi Yeonjun, C—choi yeonjun,”

“I didn’t know you’re the grim reaper, dumbass,” The older male says with a teasing cheeky smile. He looks sober, but Soobin can see the slight hazy eyes and squints in confusion. _Is he really drunk?_

“no, but I’m tipsy,”

Soobin covers his mouth in mortification, flushing all over when he realises he had asked that out loud. Yeonjun is smirking, most likely amused by the taller boy’s antics. Soobin averts his gaze, noticing how a lot of students are staring at them shamelessly. He can feel himself going into a deeper shade of red but honestly, Soobin couldn’t blame them.

Choi Soobin and Choi Yeonjun are the oddest pair to have ever been seen together.

_The introverted nerd and the extroverted drunk_ —strange, really.

“so, Choi Beomgyu?,” Yeonjun asks, leaning back while tucking his gloved hands into his pockets. Soobin looks at him in confusion, which results to Yeonjun rolling his eyes. “Please—don’t tell me you’re _this_ dumb. The love of your life? Choi Beomgyu?,”

Soobin lets out an embarrassing squeak. “please don’t say that out loud,”

Apparently, Yeonjun doesn’t care about Soobin’s mortification. “Good taste. If I was gay, I’d tapped that ass too. Heard he’s a good kisser--,” a hand covers his mouth, cutting him off.

“ _please_ shut up,” Soobin begs, pulling away his hand. Yeonjun barks out a laugh when he sees how red Soobin is.

“you look like a tomato, _Choi Soobutt_ — _hey_ , your ass is _fine_ too--,”

“Oh my God, Choi Yeonjun. You are insufferable,”

Yeonjun smirks, leaning closer until they are a breath away. Soobin squawks and steps back, hitting the poll. “I’m irresistible,”

Soobin clears his throat, suddenly awkward again. “uh—so what are you doing here?,”

Yeonjun looks at him as if he really is the dumbest person he’s ever met. “Love coach, _remember_?,” He says as if it’s obvious.

“now, tell me your experience. _how_ experienced are you?--,” he pauses, dragging his eyes all over Soobin. “—had sex before? Dated before? Wait—I detect virgin energy here.. holy shit--,”

“virgin _lips_?—and _no_ , kissing a girl as a child does not count,”

“Oh my God, I’m not a loser,”

“ _funny_ , i never said you were,”

“Choi Yeonjun,” Soobin’s firm tone silences the older. “why are you doing this?,”

The older gives him a disappointed look. “I’m fairly sure that I’m older than you, kid,” he says in disapproval. Soobin lets out a frustrated groan.

“Yeonjun _hyung_ , why are you doing this?,” Soobin asks. Yeonjun shrugs, then turns on his heels and walks away. Soobin guffaws but follows behind. The other students’ eyes follow their movement but Soobin is too frustrated to care about them. He catches the smirk on the older’s face and knows that he’s clearly enjoying this, which infuriates Soobin to no extend.

“Just _because._ Besides, we have a deal,”

“can we _drop_ the deal?,”

Yeonjun suddenly stops and whirls around, pointing a finger to Soobin’s face with a pout on his lips. “ _no._ no backsies!,” he shrieks, startling Soobin.

_How childish.._ Soobin thinks as he tries to control his frustration.

“what do you mean _no backsies_? _You_ deceived me!,”

“now, _Soobutt_ \--,”

“don’t call me that,”

“alright, _dumbass_. What were you doing when you accepted drunken me’s offer?,”

Soobin gawks, knowing Yeonjun had made a valid point. Yeonjun shrugs. “see?,” he says. Then, he turns around and continues walking. “this will take a while—we better find a place to crash,”

* * *

The odd pair finds themselves under a tree where a public seating area is placed, just around the science department. There are still lingering gazes on them, but Yeonjun seems unbothered and ignores them as he plops down on the bench and pulls out a pocket notebook out of nowhere. Soobin stands next to him awkwardly, until Yeonjun groans and pulls him to sit down next to him. Soobin squawks at the sudden movement, which earns a cackle from the older.

“your target is Choi Beomgyu—he’s a choi too, which further proves that the chois are cursed,” Yeonjun says like an afterthought. Soobin gives him a curious look.

“what do you mean by that?,”

Yeonjun gives him a mysterious smile as he waves Soobin’s question off. “in the arts of seduction, you have to be confident—or in _your_ case, at least _feign_ it,”

“Hey!— _i’m_ confident!,” Soobin protests.

“Sure Jan,”

“that doesn’t even make sense, I’m Soobin,”

“that’s not what—you know, let’s just move on,”

“now, wait a darn second, yeonjun _hyung_ ,” Soobin stresses as he raises up his hand then folds his arms across his chest, leaning away from the older with a face—lips pursed into a frown and eyes sharp. Yeonjun blinks in confusion.

“what are you doing?,”

“what do you mean what am I doing?,”

“I meant—that. What is that?,” Yeonjun asks, waving his hand over Soobin’s strange facial expression. Soobin scoffs, clearly offended.

“I’m judging you,”

“ _you_ ’re judging _me_?—is that _your_ judgemental face?,”

“yeah it’s my judgemental face—hold up, don’t get me distracted!,” Soobin points his finger onto Yeonjun’s face accusingly.

The little shit only smirks at him in amusement.

“I’m a to-be-psychologist, I learnt the concept of love--,”

“ _but_ that’s in _theory_ , Choi Soobutt. Have you learnt it in _practicality_?,”

Yeonjun’s teasing eyes are challenging. Soobin didn’t want to bring this up, but now that Yeonjun has gotten on his nerves..

“how do _you_ even know what love is when _clearly_ you _don’t_ love yourself?,”

Yeonjun raises an eyebrow at him. Soobin tenses slightly when he sees something _unrecognizable_ glinting in the older’s eyes.

_Anger? Regret? Sadness?—_ no, it was _fear._

“that is a _low_ blow, Soobutt,” Yeonjun whistles, but the glint is gone and his eyes are neutral again. Soobin scowls, getting more annoyed by the nickname.

“Can you please stop calling me that?,”

“you have a nice ass, I’m just appreciating it,”

“ _what_?,”

Yeonjun waves Soobin off.

_How can he say that he’s straight when he just said with his whole chest that I have a nice ass and he appreciates it?_ Soobin thinks in confusion. Yeonjun clicks his tongue and takes out a pen from the chest pocket of his leather jacket, tapping it onto his forgotten notebook.

“let’s continue our business, Choi Soobin,”

The younger rolls his eyes, but tries to focus. Yeonjun has now dropped the humour, replacing it with an air of seriousness which is just impossible for a _tipsy_ person to do but this is Choi Yeonjun and Soobin knows to never question the other’s antics.

“on a scale of 1 being you don’t know anything about Beomgyu at all to 10 being you absolutely stalked him and even knows what his uncle’s son’s daughter’s pet’s name, how much do you know about your _proclaimed_ love of your life?,”

“On a scale of 1 to 10, how _drunk_ are _you_ right now?,”

“ _eh,_ a solid 3. You?,” Yeonjun shrugs as he gives Soobin an expectant look. Soobin hesitates but releases a defeated sigh afterwards.

“I know his social medias..,”

“I’ll take it that you know absolutely _nothing_ about him,”

“as if you remember anything about your past exes,” Soobin retorts. Yeonjun gives him an unimpressed look.

“trust me, I know a _lot_ about them—but again, this isn’t about me. Do you have his number?,”

Yeonjun’s remark lingers inside Soobin’s head. The older guy evades every personal question thrown at him, smoothly in fact. He wonders how many layers Yeonjun has to become the man he is now. So.. _pretentious. Fake._ Utterly, stupidly, _lonely._

“yeah, sure I do,” Soobin says, snapping himself out of his thoughts. Yeonjun nods.

“give me your phone--,”

“what why?,” Soobin cuts him off defensively. Yeonjun rolls his eyes.

“I’m not going to search up porn or something--,”

“wouldn’t be surprised if all _you_ watch is porn,”

“ _what_? A guy’s gotta destress one way or another,”

Soobin scrunches his nose in disgust. “Euw—I did not need that information,”

“pft—loser,”

“I value my brain cells, unlike you. It’s scientifically proven that porn can corrupt your memory and--,”

“—so does gaining too much knowledge that I really don’t want to know about,”

“that basically sums up your brain,”

“Hey!—dammit, just give me your phone,” Yeonjun pouts, obviously offended. Soobin sighs, pulling out his phone, unlocking it with his finger print and handing the device over to the older. Yeonjun takes it and Soobin can see him opening his contacts app.

“what are you--,”

Yeonjun swiftly types, _love of my_ —bingo! He looks up to meet Soobin’s eyes, the younger is now red all over his face out of embarrassment. “how generic are you to name your crush love of my life in your contacts?,”

“s—shut up,”

Yeonjun hums, clicking on the messenger button and busies himself by typing something without Soobin seeing it properly. Uneasiness overwhelms Soobin’s nerve.

“um—what are you doing?,” he asks, nervousness leaking into his tone. Yeonjun looks up briefly to meet the other’s eyes before returning his attention to the phone.

“texting Choi Beomgyu,”

“ _WHAT_?,” Soobin quickly snatches his phone away just as Yeonjun finishes typing. The older leans back, a satisfied smile on his face as he watches Soobin frantically reads the text.

**__ **

**__ **

**__ **

**_ Me _ **

_So, Choi Beomgyu_

_Eventhough we’ve just met_

_Nothing can beat my curiosity_

_Does it matter if I want to get to know you better?_

_Not if you don’t want to_

_Unless you give me a chance_

_Don’t worry I won’t be offended if you won’t_

_Especially after that disaster of a date_

_So what do you say?_

**[DELIVERED]**

Soobin sighs in relief, finding nothing strange about the message—until Beomgyu actually replies to him.

**_ LOVE OF MY LIFE _ **

**__ **

_Send nudes??????????_

Soobin chokes—“what the fuck?,”

Yeonjun bursts out laughing and Soobin looks at him, horrified. “what the _fuck_ did you do?,”

“r—read the fir—first letter—of each—s—sentences,” Yeonjun wheezes.

Soobin gulps down the uneasiness and obligates. He rereads it again and again—until he sees it.

**_S_ ** _o, Choi Beomgyu_

**_E_ ** _venthough we’ve just met_

**_N_ ** _othing can beat my curiosity_

**_D_ ** _oes it matter if I want to get to know you better?_

**_N_ ** _ot if you don’t want to_

**_U_ ** _nless you give me a chance_

**_D_ ** _on’t worry I won’t be offended if you won’t_

**_E_ ** _specially after that disaster of a date_

**_S_ ** _o what do you say?_

**S E N D N U D E S** —“CHOI YEONJUN WHAT THE FUCK,”

Soobin lunges at Yeonjun, trying to wrap his hands around the boy’s neck—only for Yeonjun to hold his waist as he stumbles lightly and almost falls onto the ground. Soobin gulps. Eventhough his clothes are in between Yeonjun and his skin, his flesh seems to burn under the older’s gentle touch. He falters, hands awkwardly landing on the boy’s sharp collarbones. They’re near— _too_ close for basically strangers.

Yeonjun smirks.

Soobin immediately pushes the older away, getting on his feet.

“w—why did you do that?,”

“do what?,”

“send such inappropriate message to Beomgyu,” _hold my waist and making me look like a fool._

Yeonjun clicks his tongue, shrugging. “honestly, most people would react to the text like a normal person—but the love of your life is probably either _dirty minded_ or just _smart_ so he picked up the hidden message,”

“and _why_ did you think it’s a clever idea to send him that?,”

“one way to get closer to someone is to share dirty jokes, catch their attention and all that jazz,”

“now that absolutely doesn’t make sense,”

“but it works--,” Yeonjun raises his eyebrow and as if on cue, Soobin’s phone dings with a new message. Soobin looks at him suspiciously before reading what Beomgyu had sent him.

**_ LOVE OF MY LIFE _ **

_I had no idea you’re this kind of person, hyung!_

_Caught me off guard_

_But, very smart—smooth!_

_Huh._

Soobin looks up from his phone, seeing Yeonjun’s smug smirk. _It did work.._

“you better keep the conversation going. A few jokes and there—then, slightly delve into his personal life. Don’t be awkward,” Yeonjun says, standing up and tucking away his untouched notebook inside his pocket. Soobin looks at him in confusion—awfully resembling a _kicked_ puppy look.

“wait—where are you going?,”

“well, I actually am very late for my statistics class—so I better go before I don’t go at all,”

_So, he does care about his studies.._

“alright--,” Soobin is slightly nervous to be left alone with Beomgyu, even if it’s by text. What if he screws up again? But, he swallows the protest of Yeonjun leaving, waving him off.

Yeonjun gives him a salute, moving to leave before Soobin suddenly stops him.

“hey coach—what’s your number?,”

Yeonjun looks a bit startled by the question, then he smiles teasingly.

“I thought you’re seducing the Choi kid,”

“you’re a Choi. I’m a Choi,”

“yeah--,” Yeonjun shrugs. “You gotta earn it~,” He says and turns around, saluting Soobin again. Soobin expects him to run, considering his class is on the other side of the campus but the older moves towards the parking lot, heading for a black sleek super bike parked at one of the slots. Soobin admits that he isn’t even surprised that the other is living up the mysterious cool bad boy stereotype he’d been labelled with.

 _Filthy rich—_ Hyunjin had mentioned that about the older. Soobin eyes the brand of the superbike—a ducati. Soobin doesn’t expect any less than that if Yeonjun is as rich as Hyunjin had said.

 _Wait—isn’t he drunk?_ Soobin thinks in alarm, but Yeonjun is on his bike, putting on his helmet. He revs the engine, startling the students around him. Yeonjun didn’t seem to care about his hazy mind, so Soobin forces himself to relax eventhough his whole body screams for him to stop Yeonjun.

A loud screech comes from the bike as Yeonjun speeds away—which kinda reminds Soobin how he hadn’t heard the obnoxious sound when he was talking to Beomgyu earlier.

Soobin shakes his head and returns back to his phone, left at Beomgyu’s message. He takes a deep breath, and decides to wing it.

_A few jokes and there.._

**__ **

**__ **

**_ ME _ **

_Have you heard about John injuring his left arm_

**[DELIVERED]**

**_ LOVE OF MY LIFE _ **

**__ **

_OH SHIT—is he okay?_

**_ ME _ **

_He’s al-RIGHT now._

**[DELIVERED]**

**_ LOVE OF MY LIFE _ **

_…_

_That’s absolutely terrible._

_But tell me more, because I’m DYING of boredom right now._

Soobin grins.

_Don’t be awkward_ —Yeonjun’s voice rings inside his mind. He purses his lips and looks to the direction of where Yeonjun had parked his bike.

_He’s not as bad as people make him out to be.._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> find me on twt! @/MintCelestial


	3. instagram and two bros

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You have to practice kissing then,”
> 
> “with what? A doll? a fucking wall?,”
> 
> “with me,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello.  
> this might be the last update for a while.  
> i don't know how long "a while" is, probably a week or two? maybe a few more days?  
> i got really discouraged due to some personal self issues.. i kinda lack confidence for this story, considering some inner turmoil i'm going through. i will still write it, but it will be in my drafts. i'm just not feeling confident with the story at the moment..
> 
> so i'm stopping to rethink my decision to write sober thoughts.
> 
> yeah.. sorry.

**_With_** wet hair wrapped gingerly in his towel, Soobin exits out of his bathroom and into his living room. He drags his eyes lazily around his apartment, not _too_ small nor _too_ spacious as he lives alone.

There are two rooms in his average-sized apartment, one room his and the other posing a guest room for his friends who love crashing over— _cough, Hyunjin, cough—_ with a bathroom in his own room and another right outside the guest room in the hall. His living room and kitchen are joined, an open concept he had requested when he first moved in. there is a screen tv hanging off the wall, which is decorated with his photos and knick knacks to make the place a home.

_His home._

He heads over to his blue couch, dropping himself onto it. Soobin takes his phone off the coffee table next to the couch, which is vibrating with notifications. He opens it, greeted by messages from either his lecturers, Hyunjin or Beomgyu. Soobin knows his priority—so he ignores the first two and immediately clicks on Beomgyu’s text.

**_ LOVE OF MY LIFE _ **

_Hyung,what’s your insta account?_

Soobin hesitates, unsure on how to handle this situation. He would’ve called Yeonjun for help, but the little shit didn’t want to give him his number and he hasn’t seen him for the past two days, not that Soobin wasn’t handling getting to know Beomgyu well—just, what kind of love coach leaves Soobin to learn about the love of his life without _coaching_ him through it?

Soobin bites his lower lip and quickly scrolls through his Instagram in search for embarrassing captions or ugly pictures—when he finds none, he deems it safe.

**_ ME _ **

_It’s @Soobean__

**[DELIVERED]**

**_ LOVE OF MY LIFE _ **

_OH! You’re already following me?_

_Oh fuck._ Soobin wants to scream out of pure embarrassment. _How could’ve I forgot?_ He scolds himself and lightly bangs his head against his phone screen, unaware that he had sent a keyboard smash to Beomgyu.

**_ ME _ **

_VHOEFHOINWJCNCREUCOMCSIWJFVMM_

**[DELIVERED]**

“WHAT THE HELL--,” Soobin screams when he realised what he had done. He moves to delete it but it is too late when the typing indicator comes up from Beomgyu.

**_ LOVE OF MY LIFE _ **

_SKSKSKSKS—hyung, it’s fine~_

_Just to let you know, I’m stalking your account page!_

**_ ME _ **

_Oh.._

_Go ahead!_

**[DELIVERED]**

“Go ahead?—Go ahead???? What kind of answer is that, Soobin!,” he hisses to himself and sighs in defeat, exiting the messengers app. His thumb hovers over the Instagram icon—he might have followed Beomgyu but he hasn’t really gone through his account because he felt like it was a violation of privacy which is just _stupid_ since he had gone and followed the boy way before they even talked to each other.

Soobin taps on the Instagram icon and is greeted with a notification that causes a round of giddiness to swallow him.

** @GyuBear followed you! **

****

Soobin absolutely did not let out a horrifying squeal that sounds like a dying whale. _Absolutely not._

He taps on the boy’s account, scrolling through his 50+ posts and _endearing_ captions, letting out stupid giggles every time he comes across a particularly funny post or just Beomgyu being breathtakingly _beautiful._

Until, he stops at a post from around a year ago.

Beomgyu is there but instead of the blonde hair Soobin has been accustomed to, his hair is a colour of light brown, almost orange. He’s wearing a striped t-shirt with a pair of white jeans—cute, a good fit on him.. but Soobin is more focused on the other boy in the picture and he’s gotta admit that the dude is as equally handsome as Beomgyu himself; round bright eyes, sharp nose, pretty lips and black hair. Soobin would’ve thought of him as just one of Beomgyu’s many _many_ friends if it wasn’t for the fact that in the picture, Beomgyu was _staring_ at the boy with so much _affection._ They were both at a bowling alley, and it seemed that the boy had won because he was too busy cheering in the picture but Beomgyu was just looking at him with a fond smile.

The caption reads, _I’m a loser in more ways than one. Cr pic. @HKaaii_

Soobin knows body language like the back of his hand, and he’s one hundred percent sure that Beomgyu is _smitten_ with the other boy in the picture. That caption? Soobin might be naïve about love but he’s no fool to not understand the indication behind the caption. He taps on the picture once, bringing up the tags and— _Bingo!_ An account is tagged on the other boy.

Soobin is _not_ the jealous type, but there is just something different about user @KTaehyun. He gives a quick scroll on Beomgyu’s post and realises the only picture he had of Taehyun is just the bowling one, which brings more questions to Soobin than answers.

_Were they together? Did they broke up? But it was a year ago.. maybe they haven’t seen each other again?_

His questions aren’t answered when he taps on the boy’s account, only greeted with 10 posts and _none_ of them had Beomgyu in it. In fact, the posts doesn’t even have him in it, just random photos of their university, nature and one picture of the freshman Soobin had recently befriended.

Huening Kai smiling up to the camera with a cone of ice cream, with caption, _hanging out with this leech @HKaaii_ —a post from two weeks ago.

Soobin studies the posts, using his psychological knowledge to the max.

_Pictures with the accurate skill.. either takes photography or have it as a hobby._

_Informal speech with Kai? Freshman, same age—or older?_

_No, not photography course—he takes photos near the science department a lot… either a science kid—engineering? Medical? Science studies?—or lounges around to wait up for Kai._

_Picture of a middle school—mom’s an English teacher.. commoner?_

Soobin is getting no where, but he’s deduced that this Taehyun person Beomgyu seems so fond of is a _commoner_ , no doubt.

It warms Soobin’s heart that Beomgyu befriended everyone despite their status but the green monster has made a home in his heart—He absolutely despises even the _idea_ of them in contact, but he tries to ignore the envy. _This is so unlike me.._

A picture catches his eyes from the most recent post, around 2 days ago.

A picture of the same bowling alley Soobin had seen Taehyun and Beomgyu—and Kai, probably third wheel—together in the other’s account with a mysterious caption, _I miss you._

Soobin didn’t want to make assumptions.. but the timeline fits.

Beomgyu had come to the science department exactly two days ago, under the guise of wanting to check up on Soobin.. but was the visit really for Soobin? To think about it, Beomgyu wouldn’t have come all the way to his department just a few minutes before his class.. just to check up on Soobin, Someone that he had just recently befriended but then again, Beomgyu had seemed suspicious that day.

Soobin pushes away the thoughts, knowing full well that it was his jealousy putting thoughts inside his head. He taps onto Kai’s account, now greeted with zero post. Soobin snorts, finding it amusing how he has no posts but his followers count reaches around 1000.

 _I don’t know him well, but sounds like Kai._ He thinks as he taps on Kai’s following, which is around 10. _Skinny ratio, I see.._ Soobin snorts as he scrolls through the accounts lucky enough to get a follow back from the freshman. He sees Beomgyu’s account—and his blood boils slightly when he sees the Taehyun kid’s account.

Soobin didn’t get to dwell on his jealousy, as an account catches his attention.

@D_aniel

The profile picture is a person with black hair, standing in front of a beach with arms spread open.

Soobin follows his curiosity and taps on the account. His eyes almost bulge out from shock, when he takes in who is the owner. Plastered all over the 100+ posts, are Choi Yeonjun but a far younger version of him _and_ no iconic blue hair. Just black. Simple yet fashionable choices of clothes that scream Choi Yeonjun. No leather jackets either. The placein the posts doesn’t seem like Korea at all, with a lot of other kids of colour, not Asian at all, various colours of hair and eyes in most of the pictures.

 _Did Yeonjun live overseas at one point?—_ Soobin sees a post of a sign board that reads, **_SAN JOSE_** which is the first picture on his page with a caption that clearly indicated that Yeonjun was moving back to Korea, _Will miss you guys lots~_ in English. Soobin’s eyes flicker to the date it was posted and almost chokes.

**November 2013.**

_How outdated is this guy?_ Soobin does a quick calculation in his mind. Yeonjun last posted a picture of himself when he was fourteen. _How strange.._ _why didn’t he just deactivate?_ Soobin frowns, hovering his thumb over the post unconsciously—the worst happened when the pink heart pops up on the post.

“FUCK,” he screams and quickly unlike the picture. “what dumb luck am I having right now?,” He hisses in frustration. He’s tempted to chuck his phone out of his 4th level apartment out of pure embarrassment— _DING!_

Soobin looks at his notification and almost screams-- **_@D_aniel requested to chat!_**

****

Soobin takes a deep breath and closes his eyes in mortification, praying to all deities that would listen to him and taps on the notification, taking him to an Instagram chatroom for him and Yeonjun. He peels one eye open--

**_ @D_aniel _ **

_Subtlety is not really your forte, huh?_

Soobin screams and hit block.

* * *

The bookstore is empty when Soobin arrives right exactly during it’s opening time. Kai the freshman is the one opening the shop, looking fresh out of bed as his hair is simply _floofy_ and he’s decked in yellow hoodie with a pair pyjamas pants and Nike shoes. Strange combination..

“where’s Granny?,” Soobin asks, startling the younger boy so much he flinches and places his over his heart, gapping at Soobin as if he’s unsure to scream or keep quiet. Kai allows Soobin to come inside the shop, closing the door once Soobin is in.

“holy shit, Soobin hyung—Good morning to you _too_ ,” kai hisses grumpily, throwing a sharp glare at the boy. “it’s like 7 in the morning, how the hell are you awake _and_ coming to study?,”

“I think it’s common knowledge that university students sleep for three hours or less—I’m a last year psychological student who is hounded by assignments and finals, what do you expect me to do at seven in the morning with a class at nine?,”

“Geez, I get it—no need to be all smart on my tiny freshman brain,”

“you just insulted yourself,”

“and what about it?,”

Soobin gives up on the guy, rolling his eyes and huffing softly. Kai glances at him and marches up to the counter.

“Granny might be an old retired lady but she still has the final say in our family’s business—she’s in London right now to fix a problem in one of branches there. She’ll be back in a week or two,” Kai answers, dropping onto the seat and folds his arms on the counter, trying to get some sleep.

Soobin vaguely remembers that Kai’s family owns a branch of musical arts business?— _whatever._ It’s too early for him to recall what exactly the freshman’s family do.

The taller male decides to leave Kai so he can take the nap he surely looks like he needs and moves to the stairs—”hey hyung,”

He halts and looks back to Kai, whose lazy and droopy eyes are on him.

“this is really late, but you really do hit off with Yeonjun hyung,” Kai drawls. Soobin’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. _What does he even mean..?_

“You better be careful though--,” Kai pauses. Soobin expects him to say a warning that involves Yeonjun and his reputation, but Kai’s face is genuine as he continues. “—not everything you hear about Yeonjun hyung is true. He’s just— _misunderstood_ ,”

Soobin wonders how close the two are, because Kai looks genuinely sad at whatever thought he has on Yeonjun.

“he might act like that, hyung but there’s so much more to Yeonjun hyung than meets the eyes,”

Soobin actually agrees with Kai on that.

He has absolutely no idea what Kai’s point is, but he nods at Kai with a soft smile before leaving for the second floor.

* * *

Once his morning lecture is done, Soobin tiredly trudges out of his class with more assignments in hand and his buzzing phone that is no doubt blowing up with notifications from Hyunjin. He’s tired, and hungry and slightly angry—his next class is in the evening so he wants go back home and probably take a power nap for a few hours.

Of course, his plan is automatically cancelled when he catches sight of blue hair and leather jacket in the parking lot.

Yeonjun is leaning against his bike, ignoring all the gapping students as he lazily looks around. His eyes stop when he spots Soobin who just halts and stares at him, unimpressed and unamused. The older kicks off his bike, approaching Soobin with his helmet and a spare one. Soobin would be an idiot if he doesn’t get that the other is for him.

“surprised you even showed up after almost three days of radio silence,”

“oh, I knew you’d miss me—come on, I have a whole lot of planning for you! Even named it--,” Yeonjun pauses dramatically. “operation _yeonbin_ ,” He says, sounding too giddy as he waves his hands.

“yeon..bin?,”

“Yeonjun and Soobin—keep up, dumbass,”

“and we’re back to the awful condescending nicknames,”

“you love them though?,”

“I literally do not but whatever keeps you asleep at night,”

Yeonjun snorts and shoves the helmet into Soobin’s arms. The younger almost lets it drop—but one look at Yeonjun’s kicked look, he concedes.

“I want to ride with you to where ever you plan to take me to—but I don’t want to die early because you’ve clearly had some alcohol,”

“hmm, how can you tell?,”

“Yeonjun hyung, your eyes are hazy,”

“on a scale of 1 to 10, I am at a solid 2. I’m _tipsy_ not drunk,”

“tell that to the officer when you get pulled up for drunk driving,”

“not if I pay them,”

Soobin clearly knows that he’s losing. Yeonjun is unsurprisingly very _stubborn_ —and they’re becoming an interesting reality show for the other students to watch since they’ve stopped walking and are now staring at them with a strange fascination.

“I don’t trust your driving skills,”

“I have a licence,”

Soobin won’t give up, even if Yeonjun looks like he’s done with his shit.

“I don’t want to die,”

“are we really going to stand here while the students watch until all the alcohol wash out of my system?,”

So Yeonjun does _care_ about the prying eyes.

Soobin sighs in defeat, gripping the straps of his backpack and moves to the bike. Yeonjun grins smugly as he follows behind. Yeonjun hops on first, smoothly putting on his helmet and revving the engines, almost making Soobin deaf with the obnoxious sound it creates as the taller male wears the helmet. Soobin stops right before he can get on, causing Yeonjun to look at him curiously.

“I get to choose the place,”

Yeonjun rolls his eyes. “fine, where to, oh so great _Soobutt_ ,”

Soobin reaches over and smacks his arm, noticing other students’ eyes widening in surprise from his peripheral vision. Yeonjun cackles, a strange sound to the others but a familiar _annoying_ one to Soobin.

“you know the Hwang café?,”

Soobin carefully slides onto the bike, unsure where to place his hands until Yeonjun rolls his eyes, takes them and wraps them around his waist, pulling the younger flushed against his back. Soobin blinks, meeting Yeonjun’s eyes over the older’s shoulder. He’s aware that he’s growing hot and probably red from the embarrassment he’s feeling.

Yeonjun smirks.

“yeah, I do—hold on,”

* * *

The ride is scary, 10/10—Soobin would _never_ ride on the bike ever again.

When Yeonjun pulls up in front of the familiar café, he quickly gets off and almost kisses the ground as he pulls off his helmet. Yeonjun hops off naturally as he gently takes off his own helmet.

“I think you cut off my blood circulation, _Soobutt_ because I can’t feel my legs now,”

Soobin shoots him a menacing glare. “maybe if you didn’t try to speed up every time I flinch, I wouldn’t have to hold you like a parasite,”

“parasite.. Huh, I guess I’ve found a new nickname for you,”

“it’s only been like a week, but I’m _this_ closed to actually murdering you,”

“why would you murder a handsome guy like me?,”

Soobin huffs, ignoring him as he marches up to the door and enters, leaving Yeonjun laughing on the streets. He catches the shock look on Hyunjin’s face, standing behind the counter with a cup he had been cleaning—no doubt that the other had seen the little interaction he had with Choi Yeonjun.

Yeonjun finally enters the café, shooting Hyunjin a wink but the boy was too in shock to even reciprocate the _greeting._ Soobin shakes his head and heads to the furthest table in the place, sitting down while he waits for Yeonjun to take his precious time looking around the place. The older finally sits after sending _another_ wink to the female worker.

_What a flirt.._ Soobin rolls his eyes.

“so you basically kidnapped me--,”

“you got on the bike _willingly_ ,”

“you didn’t give me a chance to say no—in fact I think I don’t even have a say about you taking me somewhere,”

“ _touche_ ,”

Soobin huffs and folds his arms across his chest. Yeonjun has pulled out a pen out of nowhere, currently trying to balance it between his nose and his upper lip. He looks.. _adorable._ Soobin clears his throat, causing Yeonjun to lose his concentration and the pen falls pathetically onto the table.

“you know, you said you’d coach me in this love shit but disappeared for like three days—what’s up with that?,”

“I had a boring business trip to Singapore,”

“That’s it?,”

“yeah,”

“no lying? No _actually I was at the illegal underground club drinking my nights away_?,”

Yeonjun presses his lips against each other firmly and shakes his head. “Cross my heart and hope to die--,”

Soobin cuts him off by raising his hand. “alright, just—tell me what your grand plan is,”

Yeonjun grins, pulling out his pocket notebook and flipping it dramatically to the first page. He pretends to fix his non-existent pair of glasses— _Oh God, he is such a child!_

“Before I delve deeper into the whole grand of scheme, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much have you discovered about Choi Beomgyu with the whole texting going on?,”

Soobin purses his lips, pondering. “I’d give it a solid 4? That’s an improvement right? Like, I know his favourite colour--,”

“weak, but an improvement nevertheless,”

“Hey!,”

Soobin is _really_ tempted to _throttle_ the older guy. Yeonjun suddenly smirks, leaning forward as he eyes Soobin.

“on a scale of 1 to 10, how _good_ are you at _kissing_?,”

“Why do you even need to know that?,”

“humph, I guess a 5? a 4?,”

“now, that’s just shit! It’s 10 out of 10,”

“a solid 3 then,”

Soobin groans and buries his head into his palms, ready to surrender to death at this point. Yeonjun laughs, shaking his head as he jots something down in his notebook.

“You have to practice kissing then,”

“with what? A doll? a fucking wall?,”

“with _me_ ,”

Soobin gawks, raising his head from his hands and stares at Yeonjun who didn’t even look the slightest _disturbed_ by the idea.

“you want _me_ to kiss _you_?,”

“what’s wrong with two bros kissing each other for the sake of proper kissing technique?,”

“everything— _everything_ , especially when one of the bros is full homo,”

Yeonjun shrugs. “well, the offer still stands—anyways, moving on,”

Soobin is sure that the other is absolutely _nuts—_ kissing Yeonjun? Never, _never_ in a million years did he ever thought of kissing the other. His eyes involuntarily land on his lips, just thick and _welcoming.._ Soobin snaps out of it, feeling the fire running up his skin across his face. _God, please don’t let me look so obvious like a tomato right now._

Yeonjun smirks, indicating that he absolutely knows what crossed the younger’s mind.

_Fuck, I hate you God._

“just, move it, will you?,” Soobin says, cursing his heart for hammering against his chest so loudly he’s afraid that the boy can hear it. Yeonjun shrugs, a smirk still on his lips.

“I won’t give you the whole plan—we’re following it step by step, only moving onto the next one if you succeed. First step, which is to text Beomgyu and get to know him is a success.. I think--,” Yeonjun pauses, a pondering look on his face. Soobin has no doubt that he’s thinking about what he had said to the older earlier. “—Second step, you have to walk him to class _every day._ You know where he lives right?,”

“if you put it that way, it makes me sound like a stalker,”

“aren’t you though?,” Yeonjun asks, eyes glinting with mirth and Soobin is _absolutely_ blushing now at the implication behind his words.

“O—okay, _listen._ I was actually _casually_ looking through Beomgyu’s account and found Kai’s account. I went through his following list and _your_ account caught my eyes so I opened it and _accidentally_ liked one of the posts—you know what, why am I even explaining it to you? You’re going to hold this over my head until I die,”

“you’re _wrong_ —I will still be holding it over you head _even_ after you died,”

Yeonjun is just _glowing_ with amusement, trying so hard not to laugh at the poor awkward boy.

“pl—please just forget about it,” Soobin pleads. Yeonjun smirks. _God, I hate when he does that._

“ _Only_ if you unblock me,”

“I highly doubt that you would forget about it..,”

“yeah, but do unblock me—that’s the only way we can stay contacted,”

“would be easier if you just gave me your number..,”

“nope. You still have to earn it,”

“how do I _even_ earn it?,”

Soobin squints his eyes at the older. Yeonjun shrugs, leaning back with a thoughtful look on his face.

“I honestly don’t know, but you’ll get there,”

_Childish, sadistic, strange, difficult. Really, really difficult. A complex character?_ Soobin wonders, staring at the older with a calculative gaze. Yeonjun sighs sharply, startling the younger male.

“can you like—stop _reading_ me or something?,”

“can’t do that—I’m trained for that shit. Future psychologist remember?,”

“I didn’t mean that,”

Now, Soobin is just confused. Yeonjun looks genuinely annoyed.. and slightly afraid— _why or what is he afraid of?_

Yeonjun clears his throat.

“you better text Beomgyu when is his class and start walking him to his classes,”

“that’s a bit hard, do I have to make the extra efforts to _walk_ him to his classes?,”

“do you want to _woo_ him or not?,”

“alright! Geez—you’re worst than my mother. So.. naggy,”

Yeonjun shakes his head, looking amused for someone who’s got implied as a mother hen.

“I should get going. I still have shit to do,”

“what? Smoke weed at Hope in the streets?,”

Yeonjun points a finger gun at him and stands up, which doesn’t answer Soobin at all.

“wait—hyung, _how_ am I supposed to start walking Beomgyu to his classes?,”

Yeonjun gives him an unimpressed look. “text him—call him, I don’t know. Work your magic, Soobin,”

“excellent advice, _coach_ ,”

Yeonjun frowns. “God, you really do suck at this shit—do it casually, like wait for him by the gates and walk--,”

“he has a car,”

“—then, wait for him in the parking lot. Don’t _you_ drive too?,”

“I do, but I prefer walking most of the days,”

“that is pure torture—our campus is _huge_ ,”

Soobin rolls his eyes. “what if he ask?,”

Yeonjun sighs, face palming. “Then, bullshit your answer. You’re a smart kid, you’ll think of something,”

With that, Yeonjun leaves the café.

Immediately, the seat that was Yeonjun’s is occupied by Hyunjin who wears an eager look on his face.

“Did Yeonjun ask you to murder people?,”

Soobin lets out a loud sigh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> find me at twitter! @/Mintaexty
> 
> i changed my username.


	4. chapter 4: Cotton Candy and the arts of wooing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “hey! We’re matching,” 
> 
> The gleeful tone in his voice makes Soobin inwardly cringe. He glares at Yeonjun.
> 
> “what do you mean?,”
> 
> “blue and pink hair—we’re the cotton candy duo!,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i honestly didn't remember where i was going with this chapter since i have left it too long in my drafts. so, it's incredibly short :((( i'm so sorry for not updating for a very long time. the next few chapters could take forever as well, as i lost my momentum and probably have to recall where i was going with this story. 
> 
> if this chapter looks off, i am genuinely sorry..
> 
> the next chapter could literally take forever and i hope you could forgive me :(((  
> i'll try my best to write more but as of now, i have no intentions to continue with the updates as i am currently writing an AU on twitter. once i'm done with that one, i will try to continue with sober thoughts..
> 
> thank you for your understanding!

**_The_** girl in front of him is just staring at him, unnerving really.

Why did Soobin allow Hyunjin to drag him to a hair salon again?—in the boy’s words, Soobin needs a change to _woo_ Beomgyu while he walks his crush to his classes. Hyunjin is already in his own booth, getting pampered as he does his hair while Soobin stands at the counter, surveying his colour choices.

Soobin would ask Beomgyu for his opinion, makes things easier.. but he is doing this to _surprise_ the boy. He can’t ask him to choose his hair. Hyunjin is no help at all, considering he had left to do his own hair without saying anything to him.

“sir, have you made your choice?,”

“um, can you give me a minute?,”

Soobin pulls out his phone and sighs in defeat, tapping on his Instagram app and immediately going to the chatrooms.

_Well, here goes nothing.._

**_ @Soobean_ _ **

_Asking for a friend._

_But what hair colour suits me?_

**_ @D_aniel _ **

_If you’re asking for a friend,_

_Why do you ask a question about yourself?_

_😉_

“insufferable, nosy monkey, that you are, Choi Yeonjun,” Soobin whispers underneath his breath. The hair stylist looks at him, suddenly amused by the conflict he’s currently having.

**_ @Soobean_ _ **

_Please just answer that_

_The hair stylist is looking at me_

_And I think she’s planning to murder me if I don’t say anything_

**_ @D_aniel _ **

_Lmao_

_Do pink_

Soobin furrows his eyebrows in confusion.

**_ @Soobean_ _ **

_Pink?_

_Why pink?_

**_ @D_aniel _ **

_Raise breast cancer awareness_

“dang.. I did not expect that,” Soobin whispers as he returns to the hair colour catalogue and flips to the shades of pink. “I think I can pick from here..,”

**_ @Soobean_ _ **

_Thanks for the help, coach_

He tucks away his phone and picks the colour that he wants. The hair stylist finally smiles and leads him to his booth. As the stylist does his hair, Soobin mindlessly scrolls through his phone. An Instagram notification comes up and he taps, taking him from his twitter timeline to the Instagram chatroom.

**_ @D_aniel _ **

_Show me a pic when you’re done_

Soobin rolls his eyes.

**_ @Soobean_ _ **

_I don’t know.._

_Don’t want you to die from my beauty_

**_ @D_aniel _ **

_I chose the hair colour >:( _

_The least you could do is share a picture_

_Bubblegum_ _😉_

Soobin gawks, suddenly very much offended.

**_ @Soobean_ _ **

_Is this really why you chose pink for my hair?_

_To add another outrageous nickname in your list?_

**__ **

**_ @D_aniel _ **

**__ **

_Maybe, maybe not_

_But I think that pink will suit you, sweetheart_ _😉_

Soobin feels it, the rush spreading of red dusting his cheeks. _What the fuck.._

**_ @Soobean_ _ **

_Alright._

_How drunk are you?_

_1 to 10, as usual._

**_ @D_aniel _ **

_I don’t have to be drunk to compliment you_

**_Thump—_** _fuck, what was that?_ Soobin thinks in mortification as he briefly glances down to his chest, aware that his heart rate had picked up.

A giggle breaks him out of his trance. “you and your boyfriend are cute,”

Soobin looks at his stylist, horrified and flustered. “ah—no, he’s not my boyfriend. He’s just a drunk friend,”

As if on cue, Yeonjun sent another message.

**_ @D_aniel _ **

**__ **

_Okay, honestly._

_A solid 5._

Soobin breathes out in relief. _See? Drunk friend._ Choi Yeonjun would _never_ try to hit on him, sober.

“hey dude, what colour did you choose?,” Hyunjin asks from his booth.

Soobin chooses not to answer him.

* * *

The parking lot in front of the arts department is brimming with students, all who are staring at Choi Soobin shamelessly.

Now, Soobin is confident with his looks—he _absolutely_ knows that he’s attractive but he’s also aware that people won’t look at him twice because he’s the definition of _boring_. So, the new attention he’s getting does makes him extremely nervous and self-conscious.

His newly dyed pink hair is attracting all sort of attention, and he really did made an effort to dress up. He was wearing a long brown coat over a white turtle neck sweater and a pair of black jeans with a pair of boots and his trusty backpack on his shoulders. Soobin has to _admit_ he looks drop dead gorgeous today.

Soobin waits for Beomgyu, scrolling though Instagram as he kills time.

_DING!_

Soobin rolls his eyes as he sees the new message from the bane of his existence.

**__ **

**__ **

**__ **

**_ @D_aniel _ **

_It has been almost two days_

_Where’s the fucking selfie, bubblegum?_

Soobin snorts. _Dang, this dude really wants my selfie.._

**_ @Soobean_ _ **

_Give me one (1) solid reason_

_Why I should send you a selfie_

**_ @D_aniel _ **

_We’re friends?_

Are they? Soobin’s not sure what to label the odd duo.

**_ @Soobean_ _ **

_Friends?_

**_ @D_aniel _ **

_Fine._

_Partners?_

_Just give me a selfie!!! TT^TT_

“a child. Seriously. He’s a child,” Soobin clicks his tongue, typing an answer—

  
“ _Soobin hyung_?,”

Soobin looks up, seeing Beomgyu stand before him and completely loses his mind of how effortlessly beautiful the guy is. Today, he’s wearing a button up shirt with a hoodie over his body and a pair of black jeans. Absolutely _stunning—_ Soobin has lost his voice to answer but he replies with an embarrassing stutter.

“h—hey,”

“what are you doing here all the way from the science department?,”

Beomgyu suddenly looks thoughtful.

“is this why you asked when my classes start?,” his eyes twinkle with mischief as he reaches up and touch Soobin’s new hair. _Oh God, I’m going to melt._ Soobin prays to God that he hasn’t gone as pink as his hair.

“Pink suits you—I like it,”

“t—thank you,”

An awkward silence envelops them, Beomgyu shifting slightly and Soobin finally straightens up. He takes pride when the younger noticeably runs his eyes all over his figure—and _blushing_ afterwards. _Success!_

Soobin reaches over and takes Beomgyu’s bag, vaguely hearing excited whispers from the prying eyes around them. Beomgyu gawks, blinking at him as his ears turn completely red. “come, I’ll walk you to class,”

Soobin lightly smirks as he turns on his heels and walks ahead. He hears footsteps as Beomgyu hastily follows. _Nailed it!_

“H—hyung.. what’s with the sudden--,” Beomgyu stammers, sounding uncharacteristically shy. Soobin glances at him, taking joy at how red the other has become. Beomgyu meets his eyes shyly.

“Do I need a reason to walk you to class?,”

Soobin thought he’s gone too far when Beomyu halts and stares at him like a deer in headlights. His confidence is wavering—until the younger bites his lower lip to try and conceal a smile. _GOD, absolutely endearing. Charming. Beautiful. Hallelujah._

Beomgyu continues on walking, trying to hide the flattered smile on his face as Soobin follows. Once they reach his class, Beomgyu takes his bag out of Soobin’s hands and peers up to him with a shy timid smile.

“I think you look really pretty today, Soobin hyung,”

Beomgyu quickly enters his class, leaving the older in shambles in the hallways.

* * *

Most of classes today are spent with lingering and repeating thoughts of Choi Beomgyu, effortlessly distracting him from his studies which would’ve worried Soobin if he wasn’t top of his batch. He’s aware that his classmates couldn’t stop looking at him, most likely wondering why their quiet nerd made the effort to dress up and stand out among the others, but Soobin ignores them as he keeps replaying Beomgyu’s reaction in his head, over and over again.

As the psychology students file out the lecture hall, Soobin is unaware of the blue-haired male waiting for him in the parking lot.

“ _Hey, bubblegum_!,”

Soobin halts in his steps, closing his eyes and taking deep exaggerated breaths before he turns around. Immediately he spots Choi Yeonjun, who is _not_ wearing his iconic leather jacket—which surprises Soobin to no extend. Today, he’s wearing a black turtleneck and a bright red furry jacket. It should’ve looked ridiculous but Yeonjun pulled it off and actually looks like he could do a runway at any moment.

Yeonjun’s smirk falters as he takes in Soobin’s new style. The taller rolls his eyes and approaches the older, running his fingers through his hair.

“What?,”

Yeonjun continues to stare at him—so Soobin stares back, eyeing and taking note of the other’s body language.

Yeonjun is shifting on his feet— _nervous? Intimidated? Shocked?_

The pupils in his eyes are dilating— _is he attracted to me?_

Soobin smirks, and Yeonjun breaks his stare with a fake cough to his fist.

“what can I help you with, hyung?,”

Yeonjun pushes a helmet into his arms, which Soobin barely catches before it could fall. Soobin groans in frustration.

“you’re not going to _kidnap_ me _again_?,”

Yeonjun shrugs, putting his own helmet on then perking up like an excited puppy.

“hey! We’re matching,”

The gleeful tone in his voice makes Soobin inwardly cringe. He glares at Yeonjun.

“what do you mean?,”

“blue and pink hair—we’re the cotton candy duo!,”

Soobin sighs, putting on his own helmet as he waits for Yeonjun to hop on the bike. He is so _not_ reacting to the little comment he made. Yeonjun pulls a pout and stands rooted on the pavement, stubborn to see the other’s reaction. Soobin stares him down—they’re both challenging each other to give up.

Yeonjun smirks—and Soobin sighs in defeat.

“alright fine. We’re the cotton candy duo.. can we please hurry up to where ever you’re kidnapping me to so I can go back home?,”

Yeonjun grins, a childish satisfaction all of his face as he immediately hops on his bike. Once he turns on the engine, Soobin gets on but this time, only firmly placing his hands on his hyung’s waist. Yeonjun pauses. “what’s your address?,” he asks casually.

Soobin scrunches his nose up in suspicion. He catches the twitch in the corner of Yeonjun’s lips, as if the older wanted to smile but forced himself not to.

“why?,”

“I’m picking you up to go home, idiot,”

**_Thump._** Soobin falls silent as he stares at the older in shock. His heart is picking up at a weird pace, throwing him off the loop. Seeing as Soobin has become speechless, Yeonjun smirks.

“or you’d rather go to my house instead..?,” the suggestive tone is what breaks Soobin from his stupor. Soobin scowls and hit the older boy before begrudgingly telling him his address.

Yeonjun shoots him an unknown look in the rear mirror.

* * *

**_ @D_aniel _ **

_I forgot to mention_

_A friend of Beomgyu is hosting a party this Friday._

_You’re required to come. With me._

**_ @Soobean_ _ **

_Were you invited or are you crashing it?_

**_ @D_aniel _ **

_Who knows?_

**_ @soobean_ _ **

_Then why should I come?_

**_ @D_aniel _ **

_Because I want you there_

Soobin freezes as he rereads the text. Then, a typing indicator shows up.

**_ @D_aniel _ **

_You can go on with your walk beomgyu to classes plan_

_This party will be the next step_

_I’ll leave you to it_

Soobin heaves a sigh of relief but a lingering sense of wonder leaves him restless. Is that disappointment he feels..? _whatever._ He’s just tired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> find me on twitter!  
> @/miintaexty
> 
> let's be friends <3 and do give feedbacks!!

**Author's Note:**

> find me on twitter! @/MintCelestial
> 
> my updates will be inconsistent but do know i will update as much as i can! be respectful and give love to this fic! thank you for reading~


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